Royal Spring Cup

by Herman Vandormael

Scharendijke, The Netherlands, April 27, 2025. Two months later than usual the Snipe sailing season in Belgium kicked off with the Royal Spring Cup, organized by the Royal Yacht Club of Belgium on Lake Grevelingen in The Netherlands. The regatta was the first qualifier for the 2026 Worlds in Mahón. 

No Antwerp Sustainability Cup this year. The late start was due to infrastructural works at Lake Galgenweel in Antwerp, the centre of Belgian Snipe universe. The lake was closed for over seven months. Banks were reinforced, slipways refurbished and the bottom leveled out, hopefully helping to solve the weed problem that made sailing virtually impossible for a few months the two previous years.

Saturday 26/04 started with a light an fickle wind, but the committee managed to lay out good courses avoiding the three other classes that also took part in the event. In the afternoon a gentle sea breeze came through. The conditions improved, but the changing winds and the different classes meant there was some waiting time in between the races to allow the committee to lay out a good course for every start. This meant we spent almost seven hours on the water, but also managed to sail four races.

Sunday started without any wind. After a long postponement the sea breeze filled in as anticipated and we still managed to finish two more races.

Final results after 6 races (1 discard):

1. Sam Vandormael & Daan Vandormael. 11
2. Manu Hens & Katia Royer, 12
3. Jan Peeters & Nathalie Janssens, 14
4. Dirk de Bock & & Sofia Lettenbecher, 14
5. Yannick Laumans & Isabelle Dompas, 23